As is often the case with a nonprofit art group, having a base "home" can be a luxury - but its definitely on the wish list of the Prince William Art Society. Our board members are always on the lookout for art spaces, opportunities, an art class space, and actually, a gallery of our own. Wouldn't that be an incredible thing - to have our own PWAS gallery? An actual building!!
We see it as, for an art group that's been around since 1971, isn't it about time?
Sure, it will take the usual - time, money, work, grit, determinations, elbow grease and luck. But if we want to make a true artistic impact in the county, why can't we shoot for the stars?
As a nonprofit art group, perhaps we can work out a deal of some sort, long term or short term to use a space one way or another. Sometimes its about getting your foot in a door. So what we are asking is for everyone to let the board know if you see something that might work for us...Know anyone in real estate that can point out an opportunity?
A good idea is in your travels, near and far, see how other states, cities, towns, and local communities do their art. Do they have an art scene? How many art spaces do they have? Do they have a lot of members? Go into galleries large and small and take note on everything. Field trips are good things too, visit around the NOVA area as well to see and for inspiration.
While I was in Morehead City, North Carolina, I spotted a storefront called Arts Council of Carteret County and walked into the gallery there. There was a long open area with a counter where sales were made on the right side, like art prints along with the paintings, and small art gifts were housed in the glass cases. Down the center were arranged portable walls with Member art. Down the left side, taking up the long wall was their current art show with 1st, 2nd, 3rd place ribbons on the winning pieces, and all the other art on display from the show. In the next area toward the back was wash rooms and in the back section were art classes and storage.
While in Loudoun County, we came across the Gateway Gallery Artists Cooperative in Round Hill. There was a couple of floors with multiple rooms housing various artist's collections, studios, and more, and filled with art of every type and media.
Take note of:
Is there room for classes?
Is there room for an art shop?
Meeting space?
Do they have an art competition or member art up?
Do they use portable walls, and what type?
Do they have interesting themes or groupings?
How do they hang their art?
Did you notice any cool and interesting ideas to borrow?
Square footage minimum and maximum would be good to know. Is the space wide open or cut into rooms?
Within our county, while you are going here and there, check out places that are empty or for lease. Those empty store fronts and businesses might make a great place for an art show. Never know until we ask, right? A business with people in it is far more attractive than an empty property, any day of the week.
Get the phone number, address, who to call. Snap a few photos of the front and parking areas. Why did it catch your eye? What else is around it? What are the hours of the businesses around it?
Then pass the info to our Member at Large, Tom Payne. memberatlarge@princewilliamartsociety.com
There are so many ways to show art including:
Popup Art Shows
Popup Galleries
Libraries
A home on a busy main street that might be zoned for a business.
Restaurants
Wineries, Breweries
Bed and Breakfasts
Coffee Shops
Museums
Gift Shops - often they LOVE local artists
Real Estate Offices
Hair Salons/Barber Shop
Nature Conservancy
Art Supply popup show
What other ideas do you have?
Does it have:
High traffic, foot traffic areas and busy businesses?
Great parking - for visitors and art receptions, good crowds for events.
What other attractions are in the area?
Ideally, it would be wonderful to work with PWC to have an actual all-in-one arts space or a specific visual arts space that could house multiple artists, possibly multiple art groups - sort of an arts alliance, art cooperative space. With classrooms, studios for rent, the works. If you go to Loudoun, Fairfax, Fredericksburg, and of course DC, there are great examples of art spaces.
And when you go to visit these busy, thriving art-centric towns and cities, you automatically see the value of a vibrant art community and what it does for that area. Perhaps you've seen areas with several galleries and studios near each other and they periodically have art crawls, First Fridays or street festivals to enhance and highlight the art culture in the area.
This can be us. It should be us. PWAS just needs the space.
